Oiligarchy

You are the CEO of a major international oil company, your job is to make money: Democracy, environment, and global economic health are irrelevant. Explore, drill, corrupt governments, hire mercenaries, engage in covert operations, fix elections (which are clearly broken without you) and most of all: have fun.

I've played this on another gaming site as well, and I really love the fact that the "past" events truly match history and all of the "future" events are pretty plausible! really seems to match the mood of politics these days...

Cool to see this here. Actually I discovered the game a few days ago, and thought about suggesting it, but when having my discussions otherwhere I just didn't want to press my luck with a controvesional game.

I'm already a decade long a dedicated green party voter.

So first I thought, Oh my god once again such newgrounds crap, but only in the game discovered its being really very critical to oil and even iraq war.

it was about the year 2300, with every available patch of earth covered human power, and I was just under demand and there was no civil unrest or anything, and obviously controlled the government and then bam! the MAD ending kinda came out of no where, but after about 2010 new "events" stopped happening. Had $2300000000, which was too big to fit in the space at the bottom which was funny

this is a nicely-programmed game of dubious play value and absolutely awful as political education. It undermines its own "activist" purposes by presenting (to presumably young kids and impressionable teens) false simplifications, exaggerations and distortions of real world issues, some of it is just fantasy. This is not to say that the oil industry and oil addiction doesnt deserve much criticism - it certainly does, but it hurts Big Oil's critics when counterproductive projects like this undermine the legitimacy of critics with ridiculous "educational" propaganda.
I realize the flash game medium is not great for communicating complex issues in depth, but this game is beyond the pale in its cartoonish disinformation.

Hmmm, I got MAD even though I didn't have any oil wells at the end (only human wells). However... if you think about it, retirement is just as odd... I mean how long has it been? 200 years? 300 years? What are you, some kind of immortal?

Also, for some reason I never did get alaska unlocked despite having oiled the president and senate quite a few times. Did you have to oil them before a specific time or something?

Parting note: though I wouldn't say it was funny that I got many of the references from the events and acts, but still I found it... understandable that after a while, all such events stopped appearing (though oil shocks and such still occured). After all, who knows what the future will be like?

I started burning humans before anyone even thought of drilling in Alaska. That really is a political "lol" moment for me.
I can honestly say this is the best persuasive flash game I've ever seen. It conveys a strong message without letting it be overpowering, and it's actually fun(!) to play. I loved the little side notes hidden around the game, like the American soldiers doing push-ups, the "Terrorist?" labels over the Iraqi women and children, and the EcoProtestors shouting nonsense at the capital.
It was a little odd when a headline would tell me I was now using human's as fuel, and the one right after tat would say that a new carpooling law had been passed. Oh well. Great game.

Nice game. I love the dark political humor (such as Iraqis labeled "Terrorist?" and the little cartoon Blackwater contractors that you can hire to protect the wells) and deceptively complex potential strategies. The Donkey/Elephant cash-powered jet races are hilarious, too. I wasn't able to trigger a nuclear apocalypse (awww!) but the game is still somewhat ominous - the increasing volatility of oil prices over time reminds me a whole lot of reality. Some here may question the accuracy or humor of the game, but IMHO it's a very effective piece of entertaining satire, with a very topical edge.

I get really frustrated with games of this ilk. And it isn't because of my politics, I vote Green when I can and democratic for the rest of the time. I was also the co-chair of my enviro club at college, and I've walked in peace marches.

The problem is that games like these, they feel like a false argument to me. I mean in Call of Duty, I win when I kill people. That doesn't mean that killing people is in any way ok, but that some designer some where thinks that it is ok.

And to counter this game, (And I don't think anyone would do this), a game could be created where the free market eventually breeds a perfect, balanced world, where as regulation, unions and socialism leads to inefficiency, and corruption and the world destroying itself and more environmental destruction. And being intellectually honest with myself, this hypothetical game would be just as corrupt and dishonest as this one.

They both take their own POVs, and construct a world to reflect that. But I think the world, and environmentalism is a lot more complicated then this.

...Well of course it's more complex. It'd be almost impossible to make a game like this that *wasn't* absurdly simple. Just enjoy the game itself, don't worry about how it's not a mirror-view of our own world.

I think the fascination of computer games is actually they all are a simpler world than the real one. So we can dive there to release our mind a while. Games that make you want to think, also about the real world have a little double-edge problem to conquer.

However on the other hand, every, and really every scientific model is the a simplification of the real. If it would just as complex it wouldn't be of any value. The only question is, did you get everything into the modell thats relevant for you or the topic?

So the critism should never be that the game as (satiric) simulation is simpler than the real world. If you should argue what in your opinion important factors should not have been left out, to make a nice simulation.

The neat thing about elections is that once you have enough money to shower on both sides, you can end up with a completely oiled congress and president. Then, environmentalism becomes irrelevant, because you have no gray congressmen, and dissent is pointless because you just switch which party you're backing.

Robert, I spent six months researching renewable energy in attempting to put together a start-up to manage the financing thereof, I've read most of the output research of the IEA and various independent parties - this seems like it pans out pretty well to me. It was World Without Oil, an alternate reality game, that got me interested in the topic in the first place. Naturally any model, whether that of a Flash game or of an investment bank's risk management dept. is going to be a flawed simplification of reality. However, that doesn't mean the models aren't useful if taken with a grain of salt.

From what I've read, the complaints here are that the game isn't real enough or makes an abstraction of the issue. To me, it's significant because of the decisions it evokes. Putting you in the mentality of an oil tycoon, even if in a small way, is a rare and powerful experience.

Let's look at some axioms, see if we agree:

- the value of money and the size of the global economy is constrained by the energy supply

- the geological nature of oil means that at some point flow-rates peak

- Democracy in the United States (maybe most of the world) is a bought-and-paid-for theatrical production

- geopolitics is largely driven by demand for energy

Even if you only agree with one of those axioms, the game communicates all of them with procedural logic, and getting that across effectively is a great achievement.

Love the details... like the anti-war protester chime sounding something like "chi-cha-cha"... so reminiscent of "send them back!". There isn't even the option on the game to send them back (sooo not fiction).

In fact, at some point I really though it might be a good idea to "send the soldiers back home" -at least for a while- as it would have been nice to have...

the insurgents in Iraq blow the headquarters there so as to be able to drill the oil under it. Don't really care to replay the game to see if it is possible -is it?

As education and propaganda in the good sense I love this game. Made me feel filthy playing it, though.

Somebody wrote:
"I realize the flash game medium is not great for communicating complex issues in depth, but this game is beyond the pale in its cartoonish disinformation"

I also believe that games are super limited but investigating these limits is intriguing.
Important point: Oiligarchy and all the molleindustria's games are not meant to be "educational" and I still have to see a game that deserves that label (with the notable exception of Global Conflicts: Palestine).

Interesting, the game seems to have two distinct possible endings. If oil prices rise relatively slowly, and/or you don't have enough influence in Washington, then eventually measures are taken to kill the oil addiction (alternative fuels and power stations, etc).
But if you drill the hell out of everything to keep prices low as long as possible, and plaster the landscape with human > oil converters, eventually the price will rise suddenly and the shock, together with the depletion of natural oil, seems to cause the nuclear war.

Hi =D. So many say they finished this game, but I have one main problem- the government and activists- how do you "oil" the president etc. to gain access to the thing that lets you invade Iraq and drill in Alaska?

OK, finally got the human-to-oil plants. As far as I can tell, it's a random event that happens in the 2030 or later and is announced by a newspaper article telling you that you can use humans as fuel in new plants. Then the option appears on the menu. If you're lazy just finish the game once (any ending except being fired) and start over without reloading the page; everything should be unlocked.

To the previous poster: to "oil" the president, just give lots and lots of campaign donations during the elections. If you give enough to the winning party, the president will be oiled. Then click on washington DC on the map and click on the room under the White House to get new options. Alaska happens based on random events and a pro-oil government (the news event will be drill baby drill) and Iraq takes a little work on your part under an oiled president...

What I did was stop meddling in the US government. That lets the Green Politicians in, and they lower the demand for oil. Since the thing that triggers Nuclear Apocalypse is the people fighting for oil, removing the demand will avert the catastrophe.

I wasn't able to make myself finish this game. When I got all the way to the year 2100 or 2150 and was still sending troops to Iraq, I lost interest. I had an oiled president and congress, and had exploited all the resources. But I was still sending troops to Iraq. It just seemed silly, so I didn't finish it.

Malcolm Ryan, its quite easy to retire. If you consider this as "win" ending.

Just get as much oil as demanded, but never more, and never fiddle around with politics. You should be able to retire even within the 20th century. Altough you wont have that much money on the bank if you do so...

The Interstate Highway System was authorized by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 - popularly known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956 - on June 29. It had been lobbied for by major U.S. automobile manufacturers and championed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was influenced by his experiences in 1919 as a young Army officer crossing the country in a truck convoy (following the route of the Lincoln Highway), and his appreciation of the German Autobahn network as a necessary component of a national defense system.

You need to have oiled government people who pass oil friendly laws. You get them by throwing lots of money at the favorite party during an election. It takes a little while to get it, but Alaska will eventually be unlocked if you have enough oiled lawmakers.

Do all the stuff in the government, and save your money instead of building plants. There is a glitch were if you have enough money to build multiple plants, you can overlap them while the barrel with a parachute is still comming down. DON'T GET THE HUMAN BURNERS!!! Those are unlocked once the supply drops below the demand, and you want the people to be fighting over oil for WW3.

The MAD ending is inevitable. It occurs when demand is consistently higher than the supply. Demand keeps rising, but in the end, the entire map is covered with human burners, and there is nothing more you can do. Retirement happens if the Oil addiction falls too low - something that only happens if you skip elections, which always elects greens.

Ahhhhh. MAD How do you get it? *shrugs* I dunno.
I meddled in politics the very first time it came up and got a few senate spots with the little cash i threw in. Just go crazy with oil plants and ALWAYS throw LOTS of money into both parties for the election. Only exception to this is when you are starting out and the public is not really noticing the oil addiction. Then you are safe skippin em. I love how the public always switches parties that they favor depending every election(Provided you constantly used the secret presidential room thing and always improved your oil empire). Made a side with 4% chance of winning, win. MUAHH!

Sick game! i got the retirement ending, and the Farewell West ending! In the Farewell West ending it says

Every civilization sooner or later collapses. The history books will have a long chapter about the decline of the fossil fuel era, a painful downward spiral caused by the inability of the economic and political systems to adapt to a regime of expensive oil. The descendant of the survivors will look at us with a mix resentment and envy making sure of our errors.

I was actually able to create a price-bubble by constantly keeping the supply little smaller than the demand was. The price rose exponentially ending up to be 250$/barrel, before the share holders got angry.

In the year 2072, the world is bathed in radiation (from the nuclear WWIII) and pollution, America is starving and rioting (all the soldiers who would control the anarchy are stationed elsewhere, next to oil wells gone dry), wildlife is all but gone, and global warming is out of control. On the upside, a few shareholders and myself are billionares, which means we're richer than the government itself. I think I broke the future!

What I like about this game:
1) It really does put you in the decisionmaking mindset of an oilco exec. It's so easy to start making the same decisions that they make and to start messing up the world!
2) Think for a minute about what "winning" really is.

If you want to reach an eco-greeny retirement, and that's winning, then you have to change your playing style to reach it. Building in that conceptual jump was genius.

Spoiler spoiler:

I won this game on my terms only putting one or two wells abroad. No Iraq war, the ANWR survives, everybody rides solar bicycles.

I've gotten the other 3 and they are very straightforward. MAD comes about when the price per barrel is over $300, Retirement comes about in a number of ways...I think when demand or oil addiction drops below a certain % *and* you are not in control of the whitehouse (otherwise MAD will occur if you *are* in control of the white house)? and "Fired" ending...simply don't build pumps from the beginning.

That is to say...I see one person got the ending and posted the ending text. (Thank you! You are the only person on the internet to do so!)
But, does anyone know *how* to get the "Farewell West" ending? I'm dying from suspense!!!!

First, you must rig and win every election from the start (1950 onward). The goal is to get and stay as close to 100% oil addiction. Then, around 2010? (after peak oil, when you can't get fired) just stop building pumps...even demolishing all your pumps might work faster.
The price per barrel will climb to $300/barrel but as long as you get the GDP to -8%, you will get the ending!

Ironically, for those of you who fall under b), I happen to think that while the issues at hand seem complex in the immediate timeframe, this game appears to focus on more fundamental modes of human behaviour, and frankly human behaviour, as for animal behaviour, is pretty easily simplified. If you think about it on the basis of balancing differing self-interests, with the criteria of short-term versus long-term gains, and synergistic versus antagonistic gains, it's a pretty darn good model.

I'd also add a commentary on those who are discussing how to "win" (because it's akin to asking how one wins "at life"), but the author has summed it up at the bottom of the postmortem.

The game can actally last forever just play until you get the "people to oil plants" then when demand for oil gets too high just stop oiling up the goverment so they past eco friendly laws thus lower demand for oil like wise if demand for oil gets low just oil up the goverment

One of the best games I ever played. It is an intelligent game, which I believes touches many of the problems we are currently facing, e.g. the Great Recession, our dependence on petroleum, enviornmentalism, capitalism vs. socialism, corruption, etc.

Anyway, my walkthrough:

The first thing to understand is the ways to lose. The first, by firing, is very unlikely unless you do something incredibly stupid in the beginning of the game like not build any wells at all or something like that. The second, the MAD scenario, occurs if the price per barrel goes over $300. Retirement, the third scenario, occurs when the oil addiction goes below $25. The fourth and final ending, Farewell West (slightly dystopic where Western civilization as it is known collapses) has so far been unreachable (and just may be impossible) occurs (according to the game's Postmortem) when the GDP goes below one-third the initial value. As far as I know, nobody did that yet.

Step One is to drill your way through any available domestic resources. Start off scanning Texas. If there are any large or medium reserves, use a normal well. Small reserves get small wells. Make sure you don't go too expansion-happy before the first election (1950) though. Donate as much money as possible to both parties (you can go up to a thousand dollars in debt). You won't need any special operations now, but an oiled government will help you.

Step Two: When you've drilled your way through Texas, hopefully you've got the "New Jobs for Caribous" act passed. In that case, start drilling in Alaska, first on land, then on water. Ignore the animals.

Step Three: Alaska probably has very little on its land. Now you've sucked through the US, start working through Venusuela. To avoid problems with the Venusualan government, only drop barrels when there are no natives in the area the barrel will land. Like before, do land first, then water.

Step Four: Assuming that you've kept the government oiled even with the rise of Enviornmentalism, while in Venusuela, you should start working to open up Iraq as soon as possible. As soon as it's open, build as many wells as possible, guard them with 5 mercenaries, and send in more guarding soldiers all the while. Sometimes, a large reserve may get two wells sucking from it.

Step Five: You will need to now start in Nigeria. Scan the area. Start with small wells: it will take a little longer for the lakes to be polluted, buying you some more time. As soon as the lakes are dirty, expand into larger wells. You may get two wells on one reserve, that's good. When the Ogoni threaten direct military action, use the Nigerian government to crush the revolt.

Step Six: By now, worldwide oil reserves are being depleted. Prices will skyrocket. Human-to-oil plants will soon be discovered around the 2030s, when that happens, "grade" every remaining normal well (all small ones are demolished). If a well is producing MORE THAN 50 barrels a year, keep it and check it regularly until it goes below. As soon as a well goes below 50 BPY, demolish it and replace it with human burners. Fill as much of the landscape as possible with human burners. Allow all offshore platforms to continue their existence until their reserves are dry, where they are just a waste of money.

Step Seven: By now, there is not much you really can do anymore. Prices will quickly drop to pre-peak rates for a while. Just keep the government well-oiled. You'll be sitting very pretty. Over decades or even centuries, though, demand will exceed supply and there will be not much you can do this time. Try to lower the oil addiction (allow some green Congressmen), but not too much or you'll be retired. I have no idea how long you can keep this up, but sooner or later you will either be retired or exploded.

In response to previous comments on Bye Bye West, you have to keep GDP below -9% while keeping the oil prices below $300. You have to let some oil addiction go or else you will have too much demand and you may want to save a reserve or two so that you can keep prices from going too high late in the game. Also, when you get human burners,

you can build them in Texas, destroy them and build more. The game registers the destroyed ones as still functioning and producing oil while taking up no space

. I got a game with more money than fits on the bottom, more than 500 years of gameplay, and a GDP of quadrillions of dollars. At that point, the price of oil was still only $10 per barrel because I had unlocked human burners in a previous game and could build them from the beginning. Using them also eliminates most environmentalism.

My game was so accurate: In the early 60s, the government was like Kennedy. In 1978, Iraq went unstable. In 1991, I attacked Iraq (Persian Gulf War), 9/11 happened in 2001. After 2005, I had a bunch of protesters (Bush's downfall). I almost ran out of money in 2008 (Recession). And after the 2010 election, the government went democratic, and the president is basically Obama. XD. My friend had 160% Rebublican support (wtf, how is that possible)

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